The Sphinx's Lair

@eedrah Glad to hear that I made somewhat of a difference. Did at any time you think to have a look at combinations, but discard them as a possibility because of my stupid mistakes?

eedrah

truth be told, not specifically combinations. I tried quite a lot of math, so maybe I might have stumbled upon it from first principles and published a very convoluded answer - and then someone would have had to say to me "Hey - that can be simplified to combinations"

but lets be honest - I probably wouldn't have got it.

ffao

I don't like coming up with examples, but if I must :P

eedrah

I did have the subtraction of the pairs of columns in my models, so maybe I would have stumbled upon it, since then the only other transform I needed was factorial...

micsthepick

4:34 AM

@ffao :{

That example is far too trivial

eedrah

BAH HA HA HA

I love it

micsthepick

From the original edit: "when you are making it, try to avoid numbers that are right next to each other, if you know what I mean."

basically, you are allowed only one example where the coefficient is nC0, nC1 or nC(n-1) or nCn

Apep

1 2 3 4 || 5 6

micsthepick

really?

eedrah

it would be nice to change my bounty to the first person to find one that doesn't use any of nC0, nC1 or nC(n-1) or nCn, but I'm not sure if I can

Apep

4:42 AM

:P

micsthepick

I would allow that as an exception

eedrah

I don't have enough rep points to offer another bounty, otherwise I'll lose too many privilages and be blocked from things :(

micsthepick

however n and r are the wrong way around :P

Apep

xCy is 0 for x<y, that is basically just 0*0=0

eedrah

By the way - nice choice on separator, @mics - I see now why it's that way

that's not right, is it?

micsthepick

4:45 AM

3C2 != 4C3

yep

eedrah

ha ha

yep

can I convince anyone to offer the proposed bounty? :P

or, hey, I just realised I can make another question with that, right?

or are you keen to do it, mics?

micsthepick

Maybe leave a comment on the question stating how you intend to award your bounty

eedrah

is that fair play - changing the rules as I go?

or more, do I have the blessing of @ffao, who rightly deserves my bounty?

micsthepick

"Looking for an answer drawing from credible and/or official sources."

1 1 1 1 || 1 1 does not show any research effort at all :P

ffao

come on, I solved the puzzle

eedrah

4:57 AM

Yep, fair is fair - awarding bounty to you

micsthepick

You don't get my +1 untill you find a better example though

ffao

you're moving the goalposts

you never asked for a "good example"

micsthepick

your answer is an answer, that is why it is accepted

ffao

meh, it's not like finding one isn't trivial anyway

eedrah

I tried to give it to you, but it says "(1210)×(1413)=(126)"

wait, no

wrong clipboard

something like 'may award in 21 hours"

so remind me tomorrow if I haven't done it then

@ffao ha ha ha

I see what you did there

Wen1now

6:19 AM

x choose b is increasing in x yeah?

micsthepick

@Wen1now Think about pascal's triangle

Wen1now

It seems like it

I'm terrible at maths

Ankoganit

@Wen1now Obviously

micsthepick

it should do, as long as b <= x

ffao

w1n is the worst person I've ever seen at maths

you should get some extra lessons

Wen1now

6:33 AM

btw what was the answer to the open/close cryptic?

Ankoganit

ACCESSIBLE, I think

Wen1now

I don't get it

Ankoganit

10 hours ago, by Rubio

@Alconja If this is just a ddef it seems like it could be pretty wide open. I'll attempt "ACCESSIBLE", with a meaning of both friendly/congenial (and specifically "Open to the influence of"), as well as reachable/easily obtained (and specifically "at hand").

Wen1now

Oh 'close' as in near

I kept pronouncing it

'close' as in opposite of open

btw

Qrostar Puzzle discussion

room for discussing the games at qrostar.skr.jp/index.cgi?lang=en

Wen1now

6:53 AM

In case anyone wants to discuss jelly no puzzle or whatever

Sid

7:10 AM

Is Sister=S that common?

Mithrandir

@ffao you've obviously never seen me do math

Sid

@Doorknob answer is SIN inside LOG=LOSING

Sid

7:26 AM

CCCC: Hear something oddly silent (6)

Wen1now

7:38 AM

@sid LISTEN*

Hey I got another one

I am on a roll

Sid

7:52 AM

LISTEN is correct

ffao

8:40 AM

hey @Wen1now when is the next C4 going to be ready

Wen1now

Oh um hmmm

Wen1now

8:50 AM

CCCC: Tease a child (3)

micsthepick

@Wen1now KID?

Wen1now

Yep

I hope that wasn't too hard

micsthepick

I think it was ok

erm, I misread that to say bad

here goes:

CCCC: language: imaginary mangled yell (5)

Sp3000

9:21 AM

I guess that one's J (engineering's imaginary unit) + (ELLY)* = JELLY as in the PPCG language

(feels a bit unfair with a Puzzling audience though IMO)

ffao

it was sufficiently gettable without knowing the language

but in general it's a bit unfair here, yeah

Wen1now

9:37 AM

I'm not even part of PPCG nor have I program in esolangs, yet I have heard of Jelly

boboquack

@Wen1now Is this more promotion for jelly no puzzle?

Wen1now

I think so

Wait I thought you were talking about the 4c

@micsthepick Is the 4c answer correct?

micsthepick

yes

Wen1now

Wait is MIT in boston?

ffao

Cambridge if you want to be technical about it, but it's Boston for all practical purposes

Wen1now

9:52 AM

I'm confused now...

ffao

it's 500 meters outside of Boston

so it's not in Boston

Sp3000

10:19 AM

CCCC: Continent's top spot, first among kids: new "sick" zoo embracing America (10)

Sp3000

10:57 AM

Hmm in hindsight the second double quote works nicer after zoo - would I be able to get an edit? ^ :)

M Oehm

But wouldn't that be too literal?

@Sp3000 Mount KOSCIUSZKO, the highest peak of Australia = K[ids] + US in (SICK ZOO)*

Sp3000

I was gonna say "yeah, but sacrifices" :P (By "nicer" I meant wordplay-wise, and to confirm: yup)

M Oehm

I had to look that one up, of course. At least the exact spelling. I knew that it was calles something like that, I though Koriusko or so, and the US was clearly there. (Sorry for being ignorant of Aussie geography.)

CCCC: New whole lands, but not the Eastern part (3, 7)

Sp3000

Not surprised, I wouldn't have been able to spell it myself either! (Who would have thought the Z is there?!)

(Also in Aus it's pronounced Kozzie-osko, which is nothing like how it's spelt)

Gareth McCaughan

11:14 AM

It's a lot like how it's spelt. -sc- and -sz- are very commonly "s" or "z" sounds in the Eastern European languages I guess are relevant here.

M Oehm

The name looks Polish, so the sc/zk pairs are probably more like sh sounds.

Sp3000

Yeah, my brief internet search led me to believe they should be sh sounds, but then again I don't know European languages well

(And in terms of Aussie pronunciation, the note there is that SC is pronounced like Z and SZ is pronounced like S)

Sid

can we use CCs from other sources(not original) if we particularly like it and want to show it to others?

M Oehm

Well, I think it's reasonable to use an Anglicised pronunciation in Australia. And there are probably subtle differences in the various cz/sz sounds that are hard to get for non-speakers of Polish (of which I am one).

Sp3000

11:50 AM

(To belatedly answer Sid: there's a precedent by way of Deusovi using "Spirit in a glass! (6, 4)" so I guess... yes with accreditation afterwards maybe?)

(Alternatively you can always just post it as not-a-C4)

ASCII-only

has anyone done level 8 of jelly no puzzle

ABcDexter

12:07 PM

hmm

Sp3000

12:36 PM

@MOehm I believe this is an &lit for NE[w] WHOL[e] LAND[s] or NEW HOLLAND, what I thought was an old name for all of mainland Australia but as the clue suggests is only the majority of the Western side

M Oehm

Yes, that's it!

John Dvorak

12:49 PM

Very nice clue!

M Oehm

Thanks. (But maybe a bit obvious with "new" and "land" right there.)

ASCII-only

and it sounding very similar to the solution

John Dvorak

It's still nice to get an &lit

M Oehm

Yes, very similar. I didn't have any new clues ready. This one was sitting in the "needs reworking" section, but I posted it anyway, because it seemed to fit with the Australian theme.

ASCII-only

.-. does everyone have clue banks

Sid

12:56 PM

@ASCII-only Nah, I don't(at least, not now).

M Oehm

It's not a bad thing to be prepared, but sometimes it's nicer to make up a clue on the spot, because then you can go on with the vibe of the previous clues.

Sp3000

CCCC: Unbelievable news source dropping article covering crux of lemma on reflecting a square of squares (8)

Gareth McCaughan

1:14 PM

@ASCII-only I make clues up on demand, but sometimes the first few things I try don't quite work out, so I have a bank of bad and partial clues. Sometimes when i need to post a clue I fix up one of those instead of making a new one.

Sid

@GarethMcCaughan And those bad and partial clues end up at contact? :P

Gareth McCaughan

@Sid Nope.

Sphinx

1:34 PM

0

Q: What's the hidden message in this image?

What's the hidden message in this image? Here is a svg version which includes color values: http://svgshare.com/i/3Zk.svg There are eight colors in total. For each column of dots, there is always one whitespace or one colored dot.

cipher

0

Q: Order order everywhere

Something strange happened yesterday night. It is about a chain of images that I saw while sleeping, in dreams. The following are the sequences I saw: At 1 am, F 4 6 T At 2 am, E 4 1 N At 3 am, I 5 0 I At 4 am, R 4 9 U At 5 am , H 3 5 F At 6 am, I did not see any images or dreams. At 6...

mathematics pattern english

Apep

@Sphinx I've seen that dot puzzle before, but I can't seem to find it by searching.

Here it is. The un-cached page says it was removed for moderation reasons.

dcfyj

3:04 PM

@Apep Doesn't look (at a glance) like this was solved. At the least the OP never marked it as such.

Puzzling Meta

3:42 PM

0

Q: Would Puzzling be amenable to a puzzle set as a recruitment challenge?

The title is fairly self-explanatory. The answer to the puzzle would lead to a URL of the recruitment application. It feels both on-topic and quite 'spammy'. Would this be well recieved? Or would it be better as a community add?

discussion

Mithrandir

3:53 PM

@PuzzlingMeta sorry, ASR, I don't think so

Gareth McCaughan

ASR?

Mithrandir

AncientSwordRage - his username on Scifi.SE, where I've interacted with him more

Gareth McCaughan

ah!

Sid

4:08 PM

That's odd. First, there was this guy who wanted Puzzling for his magazine and now, recruiting people through Puzzling...

Capitalism everywhere now?

dcfyj

5:04 PM

Sphinx

5:52 PM

1

Q: Jigsaw Logic: ?s galore

I am working on a 256 piece jigsaw puzzle, but I am having a lot of trouble. Instead of the picture being a landscape or painting, the final image is just a sixteen by sixteen grid of identical question marks. What's worse, the pieces are very interchangeable; any piece which juts out will fit in...

combinatorics graph-theory jigsaw-puzzle

Sphinx

8:04 PM

0

Q: Radar towers in a military field

The military field has rectangle shape with the dimension of 16 km to 12 km and recently there are some drone activities around the area and drones are not welcome to the military region! Your commander gives you an order to put some small 2-km range radar towers around this region to detect an...

geometry optimization

micsthepick

8:22 PM

Darn, I was hoping to vote for this but I really can't:

140

Q: A puzzle in 140 characters

Your final answer will respond to the question "Why don't I like Twitter that much?" Like usual, I'll confirm any sub-answers if you find them Here's the link to the puzzle on Twitter. Here's the text of the puzzle: 🐾❄🥅#📌♠💦 255879⠗⠕⠞⠼⠁⠊⠉:⠺⠠⠰⠶⠮∞WᒧO3>H∽UO) Z⊢せம佛أر➪ᓭܜ⚡ﺪトΛíĆẸİĿMṈOṖ$Ŧ...

enigmatic-puzzle

you see why of course.

Deusovi

well obviously

Mithrandir

@micsthepick that's awesome

Sid

8:38 PM

Someone upvoted. Damn...

boboquack

I'll have to remove my up vote thwn

*then

Also, if it hasn't already been pointed out, the image from this question I'm pretty sure has been posted elsewhere on this site.

Deusovi

It has. It was removed for lack of attribution.

Gareth McCaughan

9:08 PM

Contact game in progress...

Sphinx

10:03 PM

0

Q: Six pyramids in a cube

This question is from the German mathematics competition Känguru der Mathematik. In this competition students have to solve 30 mathematical tasks like this in 90 minutes without calculator. Actually they are given 5 possible answers, but for this community a bit of additional challenge does no...

mathematics geometry no-computers three-dimensional

Sphinx

10:35 PM

0

Q: Polygon neighbors

This question is from the German mathematics competition Känguru der Mathematik. In this competition students have to solve 30 mathematical tasks like this in 90 minutes without calculator. Actually they are given 5 possible answers, but for this community a bit of additional challenge does no...

mathematics geometry no-computers

Rubio

Call to arms: Rubio is defending in Contact

Sphinx

10:50 PM

0

Q: Anagram fills all the blanks

Continuing with the theme " Same word fills all the blanks" here is a riddle where ONE WORD anagrams (of same word) fill all the blanks. One concession: Apostrophe allowed. NO using Anagram Solver or any help from computer please. Here is the Newspaper Headline An innovator in ______ desi...

riddle wordplay

Room for micsthepick and eedrah

Qrostar Puzzle discussion

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